National Catholic Register portal reports on a commentary by Amanda Evinger from June 23, 2026, titled “Turn Summer Into a Season of Grace.” The article suggests practical ways for Catholic families to maintain spiritual life during the summer months. At first glance, it appears to be a harmless, even pious, set of suggestions for families. However, upon closer examination, this text is a perfect specimen of the conciliar spirit: naturalistic, devoid of supernatural depth, and completely silent on the true state of the Church and the souls. It is a manual for spiritual mediocrity, leading families not to sanctity, but to a comfortable, feel-good Catholicism that is utterly incapable of confronting the modern world or saving souls.

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A Vacation from the True Spiritual Life

The author’s premise is revealing: “summertime can wear down the spirit,” and the solution is to “set hearts and souls on fire with the love of Christ.” Yet, this “love of Christ” is never defined. There is no mention of the state of grace, the necessity of the sacraments for salvation, the reality of mortal sin, or the eternal destiny of the soul. The entire article operates on a purely naturalistic and horizontal plane. It is a guide to feeling good about one’s family life, not a call to heroic sanctification. The “tough stuff” the author mentions avoiding is not the daily cross, mortification, and spiritual combat against the world, the flesh, and the devil, but merely the relaxation of routine. This is the religion of comfort, a product of the post-conciliar “Church” of the New Advent, which has replaced the call to die to self with a call to “nurture the spirit” through leisure activities.

The Silence on the State of the Church: The Gravest Omission

The most damning aspect of this article is its complete and utter silence on the reality of the Church since 1958. The author writes as if the Catholic Church is a thriving institution, with families simply needing a little boost to maintain their formal piety during a vacation period. There is no mention of the fact that the visible hierarchy of the Church has been usurped by manifest heretics and apostates, as the provided documents on sedevacantism irrefutably demonstrate. St. Robert Bellarmine teaches that a manifest heretic ceases to be Pope and head, just as he ceases to be a Christian. The “priests” and “shrines” recommended by the author are, in the vast majority of cases, part of this conciliar sect, the “abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place.

To recommend a visit to a shrine, such as the one in La Crosse, without a single word of caution, is to lead the faithful into a trap. The shrine offers the “Traditional Latin Mass,” a term now used to confuse. Is it the true Roman Rite, unchanged, offered for the propitiatory sacrifice? Or is it a modernist creation, a “traditional-shaped object” designed to retain souls within the conciliar structures? The author, writing for the National Catholic Register, a publication that has consistently refused to address the modernist apostasy, provides no guidance. She treats the entire post-conciliar structure as a safe harbor for Catholic families. This is a grave omission, for as the encyclical *Quas Primas* of Pius XI states, the reign of Christ must extend to all nations and all aspects of life, and the Church cannot be subject to secular or modernist whims. The author’s silence on the true nature of the post-conciliar authorities is a tacit endorsement of the usurpers.

Naturalistic and Modernist Spirituality: The Recommended Practices

The suggested activities are a textbook example of the naturalism condemned by St. Pius X in *Lamentabili sane exitu*. The focus is entirely on human action and feeling, with no vertical dimension toward God’s justice and mercy.

* **”Make a Retreat” / “Home Retreat”:** The recommendation of a “home retreat” based on a “Consecration to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph” is a hallmark of the charismatic and naturalistic spirituality that has infected the Church. True retreats, such as those of St. Ignatius of Loyola, are rigorous examinations of conscience, deep meditations on the four last things, and a radical reordering of life toward God’s will. The modern “consecration” is often a superficial act of devotion, a “spiritual spa day” that leaves the soul in its state of tepidity. It is a work of human effort, not a channel of divine grace, which is only assured through the true sacraments administered by true priests in the true Church.

* **Spiritual Reading:** The recommended books are a mix of children’s stories and pious literature, none of which are the foundational texts of the Faith. There is no recommendation of the *Catechism of the Council of Trent*, the *Imitation of Christ* by Thomas à Kempis, the writings of St. Alphonsus Liguori on the necessity of prayer and the practice of the virtues, or the *Life of St. Teresa of Ávila*. The focus is on “healing our families” and “making America a strong country once again.” This is the Americanist heresy, condemned by Leo XIII, which reduces the supernatural life of the Church to a program for temporal prosperity and social well-being. The true Catholic knows that the Church’s mission is not to make nations strong, but to save souls. As the *Syllabus of Errors* of Pius IX condemns, the Church is not hostile to the true welfare of society, but her primary mission is supernatural, not natural.

* **Literacy and National Strength:** The sudden digression into the statistics on illiteracy and national security is a glaring symptom of the conciliar Church’s obsession with the temporal order. The author laments that low literacy costs the nation “$2.2 trillion per year” and poses a “grave national security issue.” This is the language of a political commentator, not a Catholic mother and Third Order Carmelite. The true Catholic laments the loss of faith, which is the only true “national security” issue. The Church has always taught that the social reign of Christ the King is the only foundation for true peace and order, as Pius XI declared in *Quas Primas*. To reduce the solution to “reading proficiency” is to embrace the modernist error that human progress, not divine grace, will save humanity. It is the error of “Americanism,” which treats the natural virtues as equal to, or more important than, the supernatural life of grace.

The Cult of the Family and the Denial of the Cross

The entire article is built upon the modernist cult of the family. The family is treated as an end in itself, a unit for mutual support and emotional fulfillment, rather than a domestic church ordered toward the procreation and education of children *in the faith*, and ultimately, toward the salvation of its members. The author speaks of “honoring those we love” and “making memories,” but there is no mention of the duty to educate children for heaven, to teach them the reality of hell, the necessity of penance, and the practice of mortification. The cross is absent. The summer is not a time to “embrace his love” in a comfortable, emotional sense, but a time to carry the cross with Christ, to practice small sacrifices, and to teach children the art of dying to self.

The author, a convert from Calvinism, has embraced the most superficial and naturalistic form of the conciliar religion. Her “vocation as wife and mother” is praised, but it is a vocation without a supernatural finality. It is a vocation for earthly happiness, not for the attainment of sanctity and the salvation of souls. The true Catholic family is a crucible of suffering and sanctification, not a “little house on the prairie” where one “kicks back” and “puts up spiritual feet.”

Conclusion: A Manual for Tepidity

This commentary is a perfect product of the post-conciliar apostasy. It is a manual for tepidity, a guide to maintaining a comfortable, naturalistic, and entirely superficial “spiritual life” that leaves the soul utterly unprepared for the reality of the modern world and the judgment of God. It is silent on the true state of the Church, the necessity of true sacraments, the reality of mortal sin, and the absolute necessity of the social reign of Christ the King. It reduces the Faith to a set of family-friendly activities and pious feelings, a “vacation” from the hard demands of the Gospel. It is, in short, a recipe for the spiritual ruin of the families it claims to serve. The true Catholic family does not need a “season of grace” in the summer; it needs the grace of God, every day, through the true sacraments, true doctrine, and the true Church, which endures outside the conciliar structures of the Antichrist.

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Source:
Turn Summer Into a Season of Grace   (ncregister.com)
Date: 24.06.2026